Activists call for 3rd-party scrutiny before repatriation of N. Koreans

Islands adjacent to the Northern Limit Line (NLL) are seen in this photo from June 21, 2020. Human rights activists are urging the South Korean government to seek independent confirmation from a third party before repatriating six North Koreans, citing concerns over the credibility of official claims regarding the individuals’ intentions. Newsis

Human rights activists are urging the South Korean government to seek independent confirmation from a third party before repatriating six North Koreans, citing concerns over the credibility of official claims regarding the individuals’ intentions.

Their request follows the Ministry of Unification’s announced plan to return the six as early as this week. It stated that all had expressed a desire to return to North Korea after being found in waters of the South ― two in the West Sea on March 7 and four in the East Sea on May 27.

But skepticism persists among rights advocates, especially in light of a 2019 incident during the liberal Moon Jae-in administration, in which two North Korean fishermen were repatriated obviously against their will due to suspicions they had committed murder.

“Even though the six people expressed their own intentions, I think that direct verification under the presence of the U.N. Refugee Agency or other U.N. agencies in Seoul is necessary because of the past case,” Peter Jung, a human rights activist who runs Justice for North Korea, a Seoul-based NGO, told The Korea Times on Tuesday. “It is difficult to believe all six of them want to return to North Korea.”

Jung also pointed out that it is important to communicate with Pyongyang before deporting them in order to ensure their safety in the North, where they are expected to face intense investigation over their experiences in the South.

“If they go back, they will have to undergo a full investigation about everything that happened during the months they were here, and if they say something wrong about what they saw here, they could be arrested,” said Lee Si-young, a former North Korean defector who currently serves as the director of Free North Korea Radio. “Because of the oppressive guilty-by-association system in North Korea, they may not be able to clearly express a firm desire to stay here. Therefore, it is necessary to verify their intentions accurately.”

If U.N. agencies are unavailable or refuse to cooperate, neutral countries such as Sweden or Mongolia ― both of which maintain good diplomatic ties with both Seoul and Pyongyang ― could participate in the verification process to enhance transparency, according to Cheong Seong-chang, a North Korea expert at the Sejong Institute, a think tank.

“If officials from the embassies of Sweden or Mongolia participate in the verification process, its fairness would not be questioned,” he said.

Some experts call for a more fundamental reform in the repatriation process. Shin Hee-seok, a legal analyst at the Transitional Justice Working Group, a Seoul-based NGO, recommended legislative reform to transfer the responsibility for verifying repatriation intentions from the executive branch to the judiciary.

“Currently, the work is done by the administration which could change every five years. We think there should be a legislative reform to obligate judges to do the work,” Shin said.

In recent months, Seoul has been attempting to notify Pyongyang of its intent to repatriate the individuals via a direct military communication line, only to be ignored.

Military sources say the government is now considering using a sea route. The government may place them back on one of the boats they were found in and send them across the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime boundary.

A ministry official told The Korea Times that the government will ensure that each of the six North Koreans intend to return to the North before their repatriation.